Means for applying soles to shoes and other footwear



Oct. 24, 1961 P. w. R. H. JOHNSTON 3,005,

MEANS FOR APPLYING SOLES TO SHOES AND OTHER FOOTWEAR Filed Sept. 16, 1959 .3 INVENTOR PERCY WILLIAM ROLAND HILL JOHNSTON 5 his attorney. I

United States Patent ()fifice 3,005,217 Patented Oct. 24, 1961 3,005,217 BEANS FOR APPLYING SOLES T SHOES AND OTHER FOOTWEAR Percy William Roland Hill Johnston, 22 Canberra Road, Toorak, Victoria, Australia Filed Sept. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 840,411

Claims priority, application Australia Sept. 22, 1958 5 Claims. (Cl. 12-33.4)

This invention relates to means for applying soles to shoes and other footwear and is particularly applicable to apparatus for applying outsoles to shoes and other footwear such as disclosed in my Australian Patent No. 212,427. According to that patent an outsole is in the form of a one-piece moulding of some resilient and wear resisting material. This moulding, which includes an integral heel, is provided along its marginal edge with an upstanding rim terminating at its upper edge in an inturned lip or flange. The rim and lip thus form an endless channel or recess for snugly accommodating the marginal edges of the upper or an upper and a separate insole or sock.

An adhesive, such for example, as that known under the trademark neoprene is applied to the inner surfaces of the outsole channel and/or to the marginal edges of the upper or upper and insole (if used) before the outsole is applied in order to fasten the outsole in position.

It has been found that complete bonding of the outsole to the upper cannot be ensured by the use of a conventional sole attaching press. This is because inadequate support is given to such footwear (hereinafter referred to as a shoe) by these machines, and this will become apparent from the following description.

A commonly used type of sole attaching press consists of an upstanding column carrying a rotatable circular table providing a plurality of operating stations spaced around its circumference. A base plate is mounted at each operating station near to the table edge and inflatable bags mounted upon each of these plates have connections through them and the table to a main air or hydraulic fluid supply line. Upright screwed spindles are fixed to the said base plates at the end nearer the table center, and shoe securing arms, each carrying two locating pads, are attached to these upright spindles in such a way that they may be swung back from their re spective base plates into an inoperative position.

When such a machine is used for bonding a shoe upper and outsole together, the shoe is placed on the inflatable bag with its toe nearer the table center. The securing arm is swung into operative position wherein the two locating pads rest upon the shoe, which has a wooden last inserted inside the upper, at a point just rear of the toe and another point between the heel and instep. A clasp, having its ends pivoted to the base plate, is placed over the outermost end of the securing arm and thereby holds the locating pads firmly against the shoe upper and wooden insert. Air or hydraulic fluid then supplied to the inflatable bag causes a substantial pressure to act between the shoe upper and outsole. How ever, the support given to the shoe by the locating pads is not sufiicient to prevent the edges of the outsole from bending upwards, thus having a detrimental effect on the bonding of the said parts, when this presure is applied.

The present invention proposes the use of a peripheral backing member which can be readily applied to prac tically any conventional sole attaching press, and is designed so as to conform to the outside of a shoe at thearea where the upper of the shoe meets the marginal portion of the sole, midsole, welt or simulated welt, including heel, if any, in order to prevent the marginal portion of the sole from being displaced or flexed while under pressure. Consequently, uniform pressure may be obtained around the top of the shoe sole and on top of the welt or simulated welt when the shoe is placed in a sole attaching press for bonding the outsole to the shoe upper.

More particularly the invention contemplates improvements in apparatus for bonding the marginal edge of a shoe upper to the marginal edge of an outsole by means of adhesive and a pressure applying member against which the under surface of the sole bears, comprising in combination, a peripheral backing member formed of two separable sections inter-connected at their one ends so that one at least of the sections may be moved inwardly from an open position into a closed position in which the sections provide an abutment face extending completely around the shoe and opposed to the uppermost surface of the marginal edge of the sole, means at the other ends of said sections for releasably locking them in the closed position, and means for holding said backing member rigid while the sections thereof are locked in the closed position and said pressure applying member is being activated.

The term marginal edge of the sole as appearing in the last preceding paragraph and in the following description and appended claims is extended to embrace the marginal edge of an outsole or midsole where it projects outwardly from the shoe upper and also a welt or simulated welt as is sometimes applied to an outsole where the latter projects outwardly from the sole.

A preferred form of the invention, suitable for use with shoes provided with outsoles according to my Australian Patent No. 212,427 referred to above will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: i

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing the movable parts in open or non-operative positions such as they assume after removal of a finished shoe; the inflatable bag used therewith being omitted for clarity of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation to a reduced scale showing the parts in their operative position with a shoe ready to be operated upon; and

FIGURE 3 is a cross section at an enlarged scale on line III-III of FIGURE 2'.

The peripheral backing member comprises two similar sections 2, 3, adapted to extend closely around opposite sides of a shoe from toe to heel at the junction of the lower marginal edge of a shoe upper and the marginal edge of an outsole.

A preferred cross section of the sections is shown in FIGURE 3, an essential feature being that. at its inner side it is undercut. or recessed so as to provide an abutment face 4destined to engage the uppermost surface of the marginal edge of the sole 6 when the shoe upper 5 and sole are in position to be operated upon. The other face 7 of this recess may engage the extreme outer edge of the sole, while the inside face 8- above the recess may be bevelled upwardly and outwardly clear of the adjacent surface of the shoe upper and enable the abutment face4 to bear against the-entire width of the marginal edge of the sole.

The two sections of the backing member are interconnected at their one ends so that one of the sections (3 in the drawings) may be swung towards the other section from the open position of FIGURE 1 into the closed or operative position in which the two sections extend completely around the shoe as will be apparent from FIGURES 2 and 3.

As best seen in FIGURE 1, section 2 of the peripheral backing member is held stationary by screws or bolts 9 extending through one end of the section into an anchoring plate 1.1 which may be vertically adjustable along and in relation to a threaded post or rod 12 secured at its lower end in and upstanding from a platform or base member 13 secured to a rotary table 14 of the machine. Section 3 is attached at one end to the anchor plate 11 by a pivot bolt 16 and to the other or free end of that section .a latch member 17 is attached by a pivot bolt 18 so that when the section 3 has been swung inwardly into the closed position it can be quickly locked in position by a rod 19 extending between upper and lower plates of the latch member engaging around lug 21 at the respective end of section 2. The upper plate of the latch member may have an extension 17a forming an operating handle. From FIGURES 1 and 2 it is noted that plate 11 may be secured in vertically adjusted position to and along rod 12, by means of upper and lower lock nuts 11a and 11b, respectively.

To assist anchor plate 11 in holding the backing member rigidly in position while closed about a shoe and the inflatable bag 2-2 resting on platform 13 is being inflated, a clamping device is provided at the outer or heel end of the backing member. This device is shown as comprising a G-clamp 23 having its lower end pivoted as at 24 to platform 13 and provided at its upper end with a screw 26 which, in the operative position (FIGURE 2) bears down upon the latch member 17.

In order to apply downward pressure on the shoe itself during the sole-to-upper bonding action an arm 27 may be pivoted at one end to a bracket 28 on the upper end of screwed rod 12 and provided at its other end with a series of notches 29 any one of which may be engaged by the intermediate portion 31a of a U-shape yoke 31 pivoted at its ends to the base or platform 13'. The arm 27 may have a number of depending presser pads one of which 32 may engage the shoe near its toe end while another 33 may engage the heel end of the shoe last 34. It will be noted that bracket 28 is vertically adjustably mounted on post 12 and fixed thereon by upper and lower lock nuts 28a and 28b.

Air or fluid for applying upward pressure to the sole may be supplied to the inflatable bag by way of pipe 36, any suitable means being provided for controlling the supply of pressure iluid.

In the claims, the terms lower, upper, vertical, horizontal, etc. refer to the positions of the respective parts as viewed upon the drawing, and are not to be interpreted as limiting the device to any particular position in use.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a device for bonding the marginal edge of a shoe upper to the corresponding portion of a sole, a base, a post fixed with said base and having a portion upstanding vertically therefrom, plate means fixed to said portion for vertical adjustment therealong to vary the spacing over said base, a backing member comprising first and second sections, means fixing said first section at one end to said plate means to mount the same in a plane spaced above said base, means pivoting the corresponding end of said second section to said plate means for swinging in the plane of said first section, from a first open position to a second closed position wherein said sections conjointly define the outline of a shoe sole over and spaced above said base, means carried by said sections at the other ends thereof to releasably secure said sections together in closed position, and means carried by said base to releasably engage and limit movement of said other ends of said sections upwardly relatively to said base.

2. An apparatus for bonding the marginal edge of a shoe upper to a sole, comprising a supporting base having a generally planar upper surface, a post fixed with said base, plate means mounted to said post for adjustment toward and from the upper surface of said base, a peripheral backing member comprising first and second sections defining, respectively, the left and right peripheries of a sole, means fixing one end of one said section to said plate means in horizontal position vertically spaced over said base in a plane generally parallel therewith, means mounting the corresponding end of the other of said sections on said plate means for pivoting in said plane from an open position to a closed position wherein said sections conjointly define the outline of a sole, parallel with and spaced above said base, and means releasably securing the other ends of said sections in closed position.

3. An apparatus for bonding the marginal edge of a shoe upper to a sole, comprising a supporting base having a generally planar horizontal upper surface, a post fixed at one end with said base and rising vertically therefrom, plate means, means operable to fix said plate means to said post in vertically adjusted position therealong, a peripheral backing member comprising first and second discrete sections, means fixing one end of said first section to said plate means in a plane parallel with and vertically spaced over said base, means pivoting the corresponding end of said second section to said plate means, to swing in said plane from an open position to a closed position wherein said sections conjointly define the outline of a sole, the inner periphery of said sections having an inwardly-protruding flange forming a continuous abutment overlying said base, means releasably securing the other ends of said sections in closed position, means releasably fixing said other ends when closed, against upward movement, and bag means mounted on said base and inflatable to force the superposed peripheries of a sole and upper against abutment.

4. In a device for bonding together the peripheries of a sole and shoe upper, a base, a plate, means mounting said plate for vertical adjustment adjacent and with respect to said base, a backing member comprising right and left halves, means fixing the forward end of one said half to said plate to extend over said base in a plane verticallyspaced fromand parallel with said base, means mounting the forward end of the other said section to said plate for swinging about its said forward end, in said plane, from an open position, to a closed position wherein said sections conjointly define the outline of a sole, means releasably securing said sections in closed position and clamp means carried by said base and adjustable to engage and hold the other ends of said sections, when closed, against movement upwardly with respect to said base.

5. In a device for bonding the marginal edge of a shoe upper to the corresponding edge of a sole, a base having a horizontally planar supporting surface, a backing member comprising discrete right and left coplanar sections, means interconnecting said sections at their corresponding ends for relative swinging in the plane of said sections to a closed position conjointly defining the outline of a sole, means mounting said sections at their interconnected ends in parallelism with and over said surface and for vertical adjustment relatively thereto, the inner periphery of each said section having an inwardly and downwardly protruding flange defining a continuous downwardly-facing channel into which the upwardly beaded edge of a sole may fit when said sections are in closed position, first clamp means carried by the other ends of said sections and operable to releasably hold the same in closed position, and a C-clamp having a threaded element and pivoted at one end to said base on a horizontal axis, for swinging from a first position clear of said sections, to

a second position wherein the threaded element of said C-clamp engages said sections at their said other ends to limit upward movement of said sections to a pre-selected position relatively to said base.

References Cited in the file of this patent 6 Barge May 26, 1936 Heiber et al. Dec. 29, 1936 Colella Oct. 19, 1937 Heiber Aug. 23, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Sweden Sept. 2, 1947 Germany Mar. 1, 1929 France July 10, 1933 

